Within the past decade, use of the Internet has exploded. Internet users can find information, make purchases, and participate in discussion groups all by using a browser such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer from their home or office computer. To do so, once connected to an Internet service provider (ISP) an Internet user simply enters a domain name in the browser and is brought (through his/her browser) to an appropriate web site. Each web site is composed of one or more web pages which convey information to the Internet user.
While the growth of the Internet has been enormous, growth of the Internet in relation to e-commerce has been significant. For instance, in 1999 on-line purchases during the holiday season were estimated at $7 billion while in 1998 such purchases were only near $2.3 billion.
Given the recent explosion in e-commerce, more and more businesses are seeking to both institute e-commerce web sites as well as upgrade existing sites. To assist in this undertaking, a number of companies have developed web site software products to enable a company-user to set up a web site for its e-commerce business. Typically, these software products come in two forms: (1) a full-custom program or (2) a “shrink-wrapped” program.
A full-custom program is designed to satisfy the specific needs of a single particular user. A full-custom program must therefore be written more or less from scratch and will typically be rather complicated, expensive, and time-consuming to implement, often taking over a year to develop and containing many thousands of lines of code.
The second type of programs mentioned are shrink-wrapped programs. A shrink-wrapped program is a fully-developed program that is purchased “as-is” “off-the-shelf.” Such programs may include catalog software that enables the purchaser to quickly and easily set up an on-line catalog or product display/description. While such shrink-wrapped products are quick and relatively inexpensive compared to their full-custom counterparts, they offer little to no flexibility to the user-purchaser. In other words, the user will have little ability to change the look and feel of its web site and generally cannot alter the flow or organization of how the web site is presented at all.
Therefore, it is desirable to create a product that allows customization for the user, but can do so for less time and less money than typical full-custom programming.